Sonia Blanchette, the woman charged in the strangling and drowning deaths of her three young children, has died in a Quebec hospital.
A Crown prosecutor in Quebec has confirmed that Blanchette died at Sacré-Coeur Hospital in Montreal.
Blanchette had been an inmate at Tanguay detention centre for women, where she had been staging a hunger strike. She was transferred to hospital in mid-December.
Prison officials would not confirm reports that Blanchette died of starvation, nor would they discuss the circumstances of Blanchette's death with CTV Montreal. They said they would provide an update later in the day.
Blanchette, from Drummondville, was charged with first-degree murder in the December, 2012 deaths of her children, Lorelie, 5, Loic, 4, and Anais, 2. A coroner ruled the two youngest drowned, while the oldest was killed by a combination of strangling and drowning.
At the time of the children's deaths, Blanchette did not have custody of the children and had been permitted to visit them once every two weeks, and only under the supervision of her mother. On the day of the children’s deaths, Blanchette's mother was absent.
Blanchette was hospitalized after the children died, apparently after attempting to take her own life by poisoning.
She had been due to appear in court Friday, to set a date for her first-degree murder trial, which was expected to begin sometime in 2016.
Blanchette's ex-husband, Patrick Desautels, said he felt no sorrow at the death of Blanchette and that her death would spare him the emotional turmoil of a trial.
With a report from CTV Montreal's Stephane Giroux
